The physical environments of the Lab, from workshops and studios to the immersive spaces of the IEL. Every one is a place to learn a technology and put it to work.
The stage: a green screen cyclorama, a professional lighting grid, and real-time virtual sets, where performances become films.
The compute behind capture: clusters for rendering, processing, and real-time work.
A green screen cyclorama with its own lighting grid: book it for shoots, from pitches to full productions.
A green screen cyclorama with its own lighting grid: book it for shoots, from pitches to full productions.
The self-service print farm: rows of 3D printers for rapid prototypes and finished parts, yours to run once you've earned the credentials.
Specialist 3D printing beyond the farm: laser-sintered nylon, high-detail resin, full-colour plaster, and printed clay, run with the team.
Where files become toolpaths: the software that drives the machines, taught and ready.
CNC milling and routing: precision cutting from sheet goods to 3D forms, in wood, foam, wax, and soft metals.
High-specification workstations with the full creative suite: modelling, rendering, editing, and the parametric tools of computational design.
Five laser cutters under one extraction system: cutting, scoring, and etching in wood, acrylic, card, fabric, and leather, with materials on sale next door.
Industrial robots for advanced making: heavy payloads, a turntable axis, and room for large-scale work, run with the team.
The Lab's smaller robot arms: for larger printing, custom processes, and research in robotic making.
An industrial robot in a glass cell, on a five-metre rail, with light and projection: robotics you can watch, safely, from Marylebone Road.
A fully licensed bar that opens specifically for Lab community events, public exhibitions, and film premieres. When the Lab transforms for an opening night, this space serves refreshments to celebrate the work produced by our members.
An exhibition space integrated directly into the building's western artery, displaying physical work where the community walks.
The building's wayfinding and information screens, fed live from the App.
A dedicated exhibition space for the Lab's physical output: installations, models, and finished projects from across the community.
Our western exhibition room, showcasing the results of coursework and action research. The displays change as the projects do.
The Immersive Experience Lab configured for exhibition: spatial and digital work played across the volume for the public to step into.
Networked screens throughout the building, showing the work and the life of the Lab.
Architectural-scale projection: surfaces made responsive, for installations and events.
The Lab's central thoroughfare, transforming daily foot traffic into an active exhibition space for the work.
Two pods joined into one larger immersive space: more room, one continuous world.
Spatial audio at room scale: sound placed anywhere around you, and mixed live.
The Lab's newest addition, our flagship immersive quarter, with transformable pods, theatre, and LED displays operating as a single canvas.
Our new, room-sized technology instrument: a 30-metre enveloping LED volume and ceiling, three transformable immersive pods, 80-channel spatial audio, and live sensing, all played through the Lab's own App. Step inside your research at 1:1 scale.
A transformable immersive pod: a room within the room, with projection on every side, including the floor, and 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos spatial audio.
A transformable immersive pod: a room within the room, with projection on every side, including the floor, and 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos spatial audio.
A transformable immersive pod: a room within the room, with projection on every side, including the floor, and 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos spatial audio.
A 4K projection space equipped with Dolby Atmos spatial audio. This room shares its physical footprint with the Materials Hub, transforming into a dedicated screening room for films, virtual productions, and immersive audio when the work demands it.
Our interactive technology display on the Learning Platform, the shop window for the IEL.
All three pods as one continuous immersive space: the Lab's biggest project room.
Extraction and plant for the CNC Lab. Team only.
Instruments and rigs for environmental testing. In B307. Team only.
Extraction and plant for the Laser Lab. Team only.
The Hub's stockroom: sheet goods, sections, and consumables. Team only.
Extraction and plant for the Metalshop and Hot Works. Team only.
Timber and steel sections. In Shutter 10. Team only.
The Lab's nervous system: sensors throughout the building, feeding the twin and the App. Team only.
Sheet goods stock. At the top of the Car Park. Team only.
Sheet goods stock. Outside Ambika P3. Team only.
The CAT LAB Shop's warehouse. In Shutter 3. Team only.
Hand tools and portable machines. In Shutter 9. Team only.
The external vacuum system. Team only.
Extraction and plant for the Woodshop. Team only.
Composite making: carbon fibre and fibreglass layup, vacuum bagging, and the scales and mixing benches the work needs.
The Lab's central makerspace: room to bring a project, spread out, and keep making, with benches, low-hazard tools, and the team nearby.
The place for spray work: finishes and adhesives applied safely under extraction.
An instrument for daylight: test architectural models under a measured, standard sky.
Casting in plaster, concrete, and resin: benches, moulds, and a potter's wheel, where material becomes form.
Materials for the laser cutters, right beside them: sheets sized for the beds, ready when you are.
Borrow portable equipment for your project work: sign it out at the desk, and bring it back before the end of the loan period.
Browse hundreds of material samples, from timbers and metals to bio-materials: pick one up, and its story appears, with its properties, its suppliers, and its environmental impact.
Specialist tools for scientific testing: compression, tension, and hardness, for coursework and research alike.
Stock for your projects: materials, components, fasteners, and consumables, run as a service to makers, not for profit.
Where we cut sheet goods down to useful sizes. Team only.
Welding and finishing: MIG, TIG, and spot welding, with blasting and grinding cabinets, under proper extraction.
Metal, cut, formed, and drilled: the guillotine, mills, bandsaws, and formers, for sheet and section work in steel, aluminium, and brass.
Plastics, formed and fabricated: vacuum forming, heat bending, and acrylic work.
Steel and aluminium sheet, suitable for the Metalshop.
Timber, dimensioned and joined: bandsaws, drill presses, sanders, and the machines for proper joinery, furniture making, and models.